Cincinnati Marijuana Challenged
A new Cincinnati law increases the penalty of possesion of 100 grams of marijuana. Previously the city and state law had only penalized this level of possesion with a ticket, but now in Cincinnati it also carries a jail sentence of up to thirty days. Activist Nate Livingston and lawyer Ken Lawson have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law. "The city's law is unjust, he said, because it violates equal protection under the law, making it unconstitutional. 'Two citizens in the same state can engage in the same conduct, and one is labeled a criminal and one is not,' Lawson said." The law will expire in one year if the city council does not vote to extend it.